The spectrum of flight operations includes routine operations, such as take-off, en route cruising, landing, and taxiing, as well as anticipated non-routine operations. An example of an anticipated non-routine operation is an engine failure operation. As used herein, “engine failure” includes a plurality of events that result in the aircraft losing thrust from the engine, such as fuel exhaustion, routine practice operations, bird or debris interference, and mechanical or electrical failures. The aforementioned flight operations are supported by aircraft design features, pilot training, and an on-board avionics display system.
Aircraft design features assure that modern single engine aircraft are able to glide to a safe landing in the event of an engine failure. Without the thrust from the engine, the aircraft is flown at the best glide airspeed, and with sufficient altitude, the pilot may turn the aircraft around, locate an airfield, and execute a controlled and safe landing. In order to execute the safe glide landing, pilots are trained to make various aircraft configuration changes, such as deploying flaps, deploying or extending landing gear, and, in the case of a single engine plane, feathering the propeller. Each of these configuration changes affects glide speed and the lift-to-drag ratio of the aircraft, therefore each configuration may cause the landing to occur at a different location.
Although modern avionics display systems display a considerable amount of useful information, such as vehicle position, speed, altitude, attitude, navigation, target, and terrain information, and the like, predictive assistance to pilots during a glide landing is desirable. Specifically, visual guidance that cues or informs a pilot of the predicted landing sites resulting from various potential aircraft configurations is needed.
Accordingly, a system and method for displaying predictive cues on an aircraft display system for executing a landing after an engine failure is desirable. It would further be desirable if the system and method displayed cues for a variety of aircraft configurations, and displayed the cues in perspective (conformally) on a three dimensional graphical display of the surrounding terrain.